Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The decibel levels at the Wankhede Stadium soared the moment Virat Kohli walked out to bat for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. With helmet on and bat in hand, Kohli paused to kiss the boundary rope before stepping onto the field, sending the crowd into a frenzy.Put in to bat by Mumbai Indians, RCB saw the noise levels spike further when Kohli took strike after a single from his opening partner Phil Salt.
After a dot ball against the fiery Trent Boult, Kohli leaned across and whipped the next delivery over square leg for a six to get off the mark, drawing thunderous applause from the stands.Kohli looked in sublime touch and, in the process, became the first batter to score over 1,000 runs against Mumbai Indians in IPL history. He stitched a commanding 120-run opening partnership with Salt, who played an aggressive knock of 78 off 36 balls before being dismissed by Shardul Thakur.Coming into the game, Kohli had featured in three matches in IPL 2026, scoring an unbeaten 69 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, followed by knocks of 28 against Chennai Super Kings and 32 versus Rajasthan Royals.Earlier, Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to field. MI made two changes, bringing in Mitchell Santner and Mayank Markande in place of AM Ghazanfar and Deepak Chahar.RCB captain Rajat Patidar, meanwhile, included Jacob Duffy in the playing XI, replacing Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood.Teams:Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (capt), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande.Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (capt), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma.
